Roman blinds are raised and lowered by allowing them to form orderly folds or loops. Loop formation is assisted by battens which have a series of eyes through which vertical suspensory lines run and it is the lines which control the binding and release of the loops.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,300 a known assembly comprises a fold forming steel batten having a hollow almost circular body which defines a fabric slot running from end to end. A rod lies inside the body and traps a fold of fabric inside the body. A projecting spine on the batten body terminates in a bead. Bifurcated clips are snapped onto the bead. Each clip has an eye for the blind line.
In another known batten assembly disclosed in WO2005/044064, the same rear circular hollow batten is used with a rod to imprison a fold of fabric in the batten interior but the clips profile matches that of the near circular batten. The clips are made of resilient metal in order to snap over the body. Each clip has an eye for the blind line.